


Belong to Me

by captainamergirl



Series: Crossover One Shots & Drabbles [16]
Category: Guiding Light, The Young and the Restless
Genre: Crossover, F/M, Hurt/Comfort, One Shot, Searching
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-20
Updated: 2020-10-20
Packaged: 2021-03-08 22:14:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,053
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27123691
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/captainamergirl/pseuds/captainamergirl
Summary: Cassie decides to search for her father. P.I. Paul Williams takes the case.
Relationships: Cassie Layne/Paul Williams
Series: Crossover One Shots & Drabbles [16]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1713280





	Belong to Me

**Belong to Me**  
  
Cassie Winslow hurried into Crimson Lights. She had spent the past three and a half months talking to Paul Williams on the phone with sporadic meetings and finally he had called to say that he had news.  
  
That could only mean one thing: _He had found her father!_  
  
After the end of her last (and in her mind, her final marriage), she had been advised by her sister, Reva, of all people to go on a search for her roots. Cassie so wanted a place to belong and maybe now she would have one. It was way past time to stop searching for Mr. Right (who always, with the exception of her sweet, beloved Richard, turned out to be _Mr. Wrong_ in the end) and find the man who really mattered - the one who had helped give her life. This crazy, wild life she led …  
  
She saw Paul sitting at a corner table and hurried over to him. “Hey,” she said, sliding into the seat across from him.  
  
Paul smiled; a warm and genuine smile. “Hello there, yourself. Can I get you a cup of coffee? Two creams and two sugars right?”  
  
Cassie smiled. “No thanks.” It touched her to think that though they had only met in person a few times, but he remembered something so simple and insubstantial about her.  
  
“You said you had news …” Cassie prompted, trying to draw her gaze away from his penetrating blue eyes.  
  
Paul’s smile faltered and Cassie knew it was not great news. “What’s wrong?”  
  
“I did find your father but …”  
  
“Oh shit,” Cassie moaned. “He’s some kind of serial killer or something?”  
  
Paul shook his head. “No, nothing like that. His name was Roland Carter. He was a traveling salesman -”  
  
Cassie held up a hand. “Wait - was? You mean …”  
  
“Yes. He’s deceased now. He has been for over twenty years.”  
  
Cassie covered her mouth for a moment in shock and sadness. Dammit. Dammit. Dammit.  
  
No wonder she had always felt that something was missing from her life - a big part of her. Her legacy was gone forever.  
  
“I’m sorry, Cassie,” Paul said, interrupting her thoughts.  
  
“Does he have any other kids or relatives?”  
  
“Not that I could find,” Paul said softly. “I will keep looking but it looks like when he died --”  
  
“He took his history with him,” Cassie finished. “So he was just some guy selling vacuums who passed through town and knocked up my mom?”  
  
“Not quite,” Paul said. He opened a manila folder in front of him and withdrew a crinkled piece of seemingly old paper. “He wrote this to your mother.”  
  
Cassie looked shocked and then accepted the letter into her hand. “Where’d you get this?”  
  
“It was in the archives of a very small museum in Okalahoma. It was considered a piece of history that someone happened upon.”  
  
“Wow …” Cassie said. She opened the letter and slowly began to read; tears filling her eyes.  
  
The letter was simple and direct but so heartfelt. Roland had written that he loved Cassie’s mother more than words could say; that he would never marry anyone else because no one would ever compare to her. He also wrote that he would make up reasons to make extra stops in town just to see Sarah and that he had wanted to run away with her but knew she had an obligation to her children and her husband and that he would never ask her to betray that special duty. He had signed it, “Always in my thoughts, Roland.”  
  
Cassie looked up to see Paul holding out a clean paper napkin to her. “T-thanks,” she mumbled, wiping her eyes. “It was nice to know that the affair was not some random thing; that they seemed to love each other … But it still doesn’t help me. I didn’t accomplish what I set out to.”  
  
“What do you mean?” Paul asked.  
  
“I mean, I wanted to find my roots; put down roots, give my boys a legacy they could be proud of. I wanted to … find myself. Find some meaning in life. I wanted to … belong …”  
  
“You can always put down roots in Genoa City,” Paul said. “I know it’s not the same thing but you do have a place here.”  
  
“I don’t think -”  
  
“Maybe that’s your problem, Cassie - you think too much. You said you needed a place to belong. Then belong here. Belong to a community with the craziest people you’ll ever meet but also ultimately lovable too. Belong to … Me,” he finished hesitantly.  
  
Cassie looked up and met his eyes. “What did you say?”  
  
Paul cleared his throat and then reached slowly for her hand. Cassie felt her fingertips tingle where he touched them. “Cassie, I know you’ve only been divorced for a short time; that you feel vulnerable and hurt. You can’t possibly be ready for another relationship but I have really come to care about you and I would love to get to know those boys you talk so much about. You stopped being a ‘case’ to me a long time ago. I don’t want you to think about it now but … If you ever want to belong somewhere and have someone you can depend on - someone who may be a bit of a stick in the mud at times and maybe a little impulsive and crazy at the same time - you can belong to Genoa City and … to me.”  
  
Cassie smiled. “I would like to belong and find my place in the world. Just give me a little time.”  
  
“Take all the time you need,” Paul said.  
  
“Okay …”  
  
They said their goodbyes and then Paul watched her leave, feeling sad and disappointed that a woman he thought he could truly love could be gone from his life forever.  
  
Two minutes had passed since she left when he suddenly felt a warm, soft hand from behind touch his shoulder. He turned to see Cassie standing there. “What -” He began.  
  
“You told me to take all the time I needed,” she said. “And as soon as I walked out of here, I realized this was exactly where I wanted to be. So, I came back to say … _time’s up_ … If you’ll still have me …”  
  
Paul nodded. “Oh I definitely still will,” he said and pulled her into a warm embrace.


End file.
